A Day in Florence

This weekend, three of my friends and I spent a day in the Tuscan city of Florence. Only about an hour away by bus, it was very easy to get there. The day was a bit chilly, only 40 degrees Farenheit, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

This is a picture of me on the Fiume Arno (The Arne River). Gorgeous day! From the bus station, we made our way to the Duomo. It was amazing! The ceiling was beautifully painted and the size was incredible. Later in the evening, the tip of the dome was lit up. 

We also visited the Uffizi, which is the museum containing most of Florence's works of art, including The Birth of Venus. The David wasn't in the museum and we couldn't find it but we'll go back again to find it. The Uffizi contained black and white photographs, paintings, drawing, and sculptures. We spent about two hours in the musem, before heading to a local pizzeria for lunch. After that, we walked around the open market on one of the main Florentine streets. Bags, scraves, shoes, painting, you name it! It was huge! We also crossed the Ponte Vecchio, which is a bridge filled with really expensive jewelry stores.

The last place we went to was the Piazzale Michelangelo. We walked uphill and up stairs for about 10 minutes to the top of a hill. But the view was absolutely breath-taking! You could see the entire city! We went up at sunset and there was a huge staircase carved into the side and you could jsut sit and watch everything. Truly a sight to see. The picture below is the sunset view of the hillside from this spot.

My Weekend in Rome

I spent this past weekend with my UMass group in the metropolis of Italy: Rome! We departed Saturday morning for the 3 hour buss ride south to Rome. The city is HUGE compared to where I am right now, in Siena. The small walled city does nothing to compare to Rome. The city was absolutly beautiful and we had an awesome weekend packed with sight seeing, great food, and meeting old friends. We saw the Colloseum, Trevi Fountain, Capitol Hill, Spanish Steps, Piazza of the People, Pantheon, and some other monuments. Below are some photos from the weekend. Enjoy! =)

The Colloseo! Truly, it was collosal! We couldn't actually go into it but just standing in front of it was breath-taking. This photo is taken from a few hundred feet away. We took a nice group photo in front of it but I'll have to steal it from whoever took it off Facebook.

This is a picture from the "entrance" of The Vatican. You can see the Christmas Tree and Nativity scene are still up for another week. Saint Peter's Basilica towers in the background. The inside of the church was absolutly stunning! We listened to a mass (because we went on Sunday) and then at noon, the Pope came to his window and blessed the crowd in the square. He spoke in 6 different languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and English. It was beautful to see him and hear him speak.

Another highlight of my weekend was meeting up with my high school exchange student! Her name is Ilaria and she came shopping and touring Rome with us Saturday evening. I haven't seen her in 3 years and I miss her so much so I was excited beyond belief to see her! She goes to school in Rome for medicine. The site is being finickey so unfortunatly I can't add a photo.

Le foto!

Here are some photos from Siena. There will be more to come! =)

This is a picture of the Piazza del Campo. It's the biggest, main square in Siena. There's a fountain in the middle, restaurants surrounding the center, and a bell tower. Cha bella!

This is a picture of me with my friends (from left to right) Katie and Shannon and our program coordinators Katia and Elena. They took us out to a welcome dinner.

Miscelaneous Update

It has only been 2 days since my last post but a lot has been going on!

1) Class has started and it is going very well. The school day is broken up into two parts. From 8:30am-11:00am we have our "language" class. We pretty much just talk and practice the language.We then have a 15 minute break and from 11:15am-1:30pm we have our grammar section. We go over little grammar tidbits and details because our teacher wants us to speak italiano perfetto! My class is about 20 people. There are students from Japan, Korea, China, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Russia, Italy, Lybia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and US. Right now, it's mainly reviewing passato prossimo (past participle) and imperfetto (imperfect past) which is painfully, tear my eyes out, easy. But the professors, one for each section, are awesome and the classroom dynamic is really strong. So far so good!

2) For those who saw my Facebook status Tuesday evening, I went out with a UMass professor and some of my friends for drinks! Kyle Johnson, one of the most eccentric professors at UMass was teaching an abroad winter session course with the University of Delaware in Siena where we're studying. My friend, who had him last semester for Linguistics 201, had been emailing him and we met him Tuesday night. (Yes I had him as a professor as well. No I'm not stalking him...)We talked about everything from how Prof. Johnson got into linguistics to poisonous Australian spiders to telling stories about crazy people at Dunkin Donuts. None the less, it was quite an experience.

I thought there was more but maybe it will come to me later...OH! I've been cooking up a storm for my friends over here. Vegetable ragu, alfredo sauce over chicken and veggies, and homemade pomodoro sauce over pasta...BUONISSIMO!

Starting La Scuola

Today was the start of our scholling term. The Universita` per Stranieri (University for Foreigners) is about a 15 minute walk from our residence. it's right outside the city walls, mext to the train station and a small shopping center. We had a placement exam in the morning. it consisted of a 1 1/2 hr written exam and a short oral exam. There are six possible levels of study at the Uni: A1 & A2, B1 &B2, and C1 & C2. I have been placed at the B1 level, which is the intermediate level. Classes start tomorrow and will be Monday-Friday 8:30am-1:30pm. I'm excited to start school but ofcourse apprehensive seeig as I have no idea what classes will be like or how class is conducted. Ci vedremo... (we will see...)

Today is the day I'm taking to finalize what I need to get. Many stores were closed because this past weekend was a holiday. My alarm clock broke so I need a new one. I need to exchange money, I need a satchel bag (they're all the rage here) and there are lots of good sales going on so some shopping is in order. YAY SHOPPING!!

As a follow-up to my last post, I talked with my Art History professor yesturday when she took us on a tour of the city and YES a lot of people in Siena own a dog. And because there are hardly any gardens, grass, backyards, etc, people have no choice but to walk their dogs around the city. Dogs are fascinating creatures so I felt it necessary to post about them.

Un bacio!

Cani (Dogs)

There are a lot of dogs in Siena. It seems like everyone has a dog and was walking their dog today. The weather was gorgeous, probably 40-50 and sunny and there were dogs everywhere! Big dogs, little dogs, black, brown dogs, curly hair...all different kinds! I don't know if people in MA just don't walk their dogs or what but there were a lot of dogs out today. This is my first observation about the people in Siena.

Sono arrivata!!!

I'm here! I made it! Nothing got stolen, no luggage got lost, and I'm finally settled in! It feels so good to be here, although the realization of everything hit me all at once. But I suppose I'll talk about that later.

All my flights went well. I flew from Boston to Toronto (2 hr flight with a 2 hr lay-over), then Toronto to Zurich, Switzerland (7 1/2 hr flight with a 2 1/2 hr lay-over), then Zurich to Rome (1 hr flight). Then we took a 1 hr train ride to a bus station, waited 1 1/2 hrs there, peed in a hole in the ground, and took a 3 hr bus ride to Siena.....The flights were good. Air Canada was awesome! I watched Crazy Stupid Love, Red Riding Hood, part of Saving Private Ryan, and most of Drive. The flight ended with 30 minutes left! GAHH! But all the flights were fine, food was surprisingly good, and I don't have any annoying flight neighbors, which is always a plus. Train and bus were fine but annoying. And yes, I did pee in a hole in the ground. And I had to pay 60 cents to do it too!! Oh italia...

So I'm living with an English girl named Sam. She's awesome and we're really alike so I think we'll get along great. We're on the 5th floor of an apartment building. The floor has 6 double bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a kitchen/diningroom. We all went food shopping today and it's seems a bit more homely now. Everyone here is wicked nice but I find myself afraid to speak Italian. All of the bar tenders and store owners are kind to us and patient but I'm still scared to death of being wrong. I just have to get over it and be strong and make mistakes. I can do this!

I do miss America, and how things are in America. Specifically cellphones. I really want to take out my phone and take pictures of things or texts my friends and boyfriend but I can't. I can't just call my family or anyone and that's going to be the hardest thing to get used to. But i know I can make it. After a few weeks it will be as if I never had a phone at all.

All in all, I'm settling in well. School starts Monday with our placement exam (YIKES!) and then Tuesday classes start. This is going to be the start of an interesting four months to say the least. Ciao a tutti! (Bye everyone!)

Starting a Blog

I have never written a blog before but now seems as good a time as any! I will be studying abroad in Siena, Italy for 4 months. I thought it would be cool to share my experiences, my thoughts and feelings, and the happenings half across the world! This is all new to me but I'm excited for what's to come in the next few months and to share it all.

Bare with me while I get this all figured out :)